How to efficiently manage time?

Today, in the corporate world, the term 'time management' is used quite often. With the increasing demands in the market, efficient management of time becomes important to accomplish a task or goal in the allotted time with absolutely no error. Most of you have employed various strategies or techniques to succeed in managing time. Remember one thing! Unless and until you don't commit to change, you cannot yield the expected results. Also, time management is about you controlling the environment and not vice versa.



Your time management doesn't stop with planning, proper execution and monitoring should also be done. There might be a circumstance arise, where you have to coordinate with other departments. In such cases, you can be confident if you are good at time management. When a task or a project is assigned to you, break it into small, achievable goals. Set a deadline for each goal and come up with an efficient action plan to achieve it. If a task was not completed within the set time, analyze which is the hindering factor, whether it is the resource, skill, or external factors.



Organizing your work would prove to be beneficial in time management. For this, maintain a to-do-list (task list), categorize the work based on priorities, daily, weekly, and monthly. If you plan to perform a task at a specific time, stick to it. You can maintain the task list in a piece of paper, a not pad, or in your PDA, it is simply as per your convenience. Web-based task list applications are also available for this purpose. Strike out or check it off once you have completed the listed task.



Delegation is other important strategy in time management. It is true that you single-handedly cannot accomplish a task or project. You would surely have people to work with, and it is better to delegate some of the work to your team members. Now, you can focus on the chore works, rather than spending time on works of least importance. The person who receives the work is also benefited, as he/she can be equipped to move up in the ladder. Even, you get an opportunity to move up, when your sub-ordinate can take up your job.



If you are addicted to email, try changing your approach. If you have set automatic alert on receiving messages, then its time to deactivate it. This is because, mail checking could consume much of your work hours and delay your work. You can decide when to check mails, say once you log in, before or after lunch, and an hour before you leave for the day.

It would be wise if to attend a formal time management training program. There are organizations that conduct real-time workshops on time management for different industrial sectors. You can approach them to have a training session to learn how to be more productive, beat stress, basic email etiquette and enjoy the work.

Know about personal goal setting

Have you ever thought that personal goal setting plays a vital role in personal time management? Life is full of choices and decisions, and you are bound to manage these and not the flow of time.
Many would ask how goal differs from objectives. Objectives are nothing but sub goals, which serve as a mean to achieve the goals. When you set a goal, you then move onto setting of objectives. The objectives are as important as your goals are. The conditions you provide to reach a goal, resources you collect, skills you evolve, the knowledge to be acquired, and things that should be achieved before reaching the goals would be the various objectives.
Goals give you three advantages; keep you on track, let you be aware of when to celebrate, and provide a focused plan to work. Points to be noted in goal setting is, the goal should be better than your best, and it should be based on productivity rather than production i.e., getting things done right and fast.
Now, lets take a look at the essentials of goal setting. Firstly, you should set SMART goals, which implies that your goal should be
1)Specific
2)Measurable
3)Attainable
4)Rewarding
5)Timely
Here, why we say your goals should be specific is because you will have a better idea of what to be achieved and have specific standards to achieve those set goals. The vital point to be remembered in goal setting is, write your goals. Remember! If you have a specific goal, then the success in not far.
When you can say a goal is measurable is if its progress can be measured. The goal should have a specific criteria that intimates you on reaching the goal.
A goal is said to be attainable when you can see the realistic path of achieving it. This doesn't imply that you have to choose the simple and easy-to-achieve goals. It is definite that the best-working goals involve complexities, but, they are a great source of motivation and induce the sense of achievement.
If you have a clear reasons for achieving a goal, then it is surely rewarding. Even here, you need to write down the reasons and rewards of your goals. When you got stuck up, glance through them, you will surely overcome the difficult moments.Finally, your goal should be time bound. The reward of your goals is earned through the time. Hence, you can avoid paying high price for the goal by setting deadlines. You need proper and effective time management training. This way, you can get rid of procrastination and attain perfectionism.